‘Nigeria loses N153b yearly to software licensing’

Nigeria is losing N153 billion ($1 billion) annually to software licensing, delivery services and technical support in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), it was revealed yesterday.

According to the President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Chris Uwaje, this is in addition to evidence of colossal losses to banks, oil sector, and the government. This is due to inconsistent version upgrade and processes leading to failed software products, project implementation and services.

Uwaje spoke in Abuja when he led members of the institute on a courtesy call on the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah where he lamented that the state of ICT in the country could not contribute substantially to national development.

He listed unregulated state of foreign software products in Nigeria, non-existent national policy and legislation on software, implementation of e-government, e-education, tele-medicine and protection of our cyberspace for national security and survivability as other factors confronting the growth of ICT.

He said the visit was in furtherance of the institute’s national advocacy for the establishment and adoption of national software strategic policy.

Uwaje stressed the need for collaboration between key stakeholders on the critical and challenging ICT issues in national development.

He said it was the institute’s “professional opinion that our nation is faced with a monumental challenge on how to structure, configure and reposition Information and Communications Technology and especially software Nigeria, as a prime industry for nation building, national security and global competitiveness.”

According to him, to address these concerns, “there is fundamental need to establish an initiative to review existing ICT policies, strategies and establish as well as implement a National Software strategy and policy aimed at ensuring that Nigeria will be able to satisfy its domestic, regional and international requirements for application software solutions, content development and usage.”